'The Demon Story' was taken from Issue One (Summer 1995) of Demon Dispatches magazine.

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far, away...

The rise of Demon has been phenomenal. Conceived in 1991 as a means of providing cheap access to the Internet for just 200 people, it is now the biggest provider of dial-up access in the UK.

Whenever you connect your computer to Demon Internet, you become part of the world's biggest computer network - something that millions of people all over the world take for granted.

In the UK so many people use the Internet - and so many routinely dismiss it as last year's fad - that it's hard to believe that only three years ago, personal access to any sort of email - let alone a full Internet connection - was completely unheard of.

At the turn of the decade, options for the individual user were limited. Commercial email systems cost a lot and, with the exception of Cix, were US-based. Some of them couldn't even send email to subscribers on other systems. There were two main providers of access to email and Usenet News in the UK: the JANet network linking universities, and UKNet, which provided a service to a small but growing number of companies around the country. International links were confined to large companies and universities. If you wanted a home connection for email you had to have a large wallet.

In the rest of the world, the Internet was growing. Thousands of sites were coming on line, offering access to more and more useful files. In the academic world, moves towards better international links began, and a growing number of users decided some sort of access to email and news at home would be desirable.

1992 and all that

Email and news weren't the only things people wanted access to. With the growth of the Internet, and the creation of commercial Internet services in the US, people in this country wanted access to FTP and Telnet too. Some thought it would be too expensive, while others tried to work out how it could be done for a reasonable fee.

Among them was Cliff Stanford of Demon Systems. Without Demon Systems - a small computer company in Finchley, North London - there would be no Demon Internet today. Cliff and the rest of the Demon team used the Cix conferencing system to keep in touch with clients and potential customers. Along with many other people, Cliff wanted access to the Internet, but in 1991, that still meant installing a dedicated line across the Atlantic, well beyond the reach of most small companies.

Cliff realised that the best way to get the Internet access he wanted for Demon Systems was to let other people share it. The tenner-a-month idea was born, and a conference of the same name was created on Cix late in 1991.

The plan was based on 200 people paying £10 a month for full access to the Internet - and there was a lot of interest. The chaps at Demon Systems weren't the only people that had seen an opportunity, though. Early in 1992, a software distribution company called Unipalm, based in Cambridge, set up a subsidiary called Pipex. Its aim was to offer full Internet connectivity to commercial organisations in the UK.

The startup of Pipex helped kickstart Demon's plans, and meant that it was no longer necessary to invest in a dedicated link to the US. In the early summer of 1992, with 200 founder members pledging £120 for a year's subscription in advance, Demon Internet became reality.

Online at last

With a single 486 machine (gate.demon.co.uk) and eight phone lines, the service launched in 1992 was a far cry from what is available today. In fact, right from the start, Demon Internet was discovering the limitations of the hardware and software available, and gaining valuable experience in how to overcome them.

At the time, there was nothing quite like Demon Internet anywhere in the world. And there turned out to be far more people interested than just the 120 founder members. Even without advertising, word spread about the tenner-a-month service. The trickle of new members - originally recorded in Cliff's mother's diary - became an avalanche as more and more people realised they really could afford to have access to email and news from their home computer.

As more people joined, Demon had to add more phone lines, and then add more computers to handle the load. With more people connecting, and more mail being sent, extra machines were added to look after mail or connect to the modems. More staff were taken on, and work began on creating special software to handle what was starting to look like a runaway success.

Before long, it was obvious that there were people all over the country wanting access to the Internet, and Demon's first Point of Presence (PoP) was opened in Warrington, providing access to people in Manchester and Liverpool.

There was another important change too. Instead of reselling Internet connectivity bought from another company - as many providers still do - Demon Internet became a fully fledged service provider in its own right, installing the first of its dedicated transatlantic links.

The only way is up

Advertising isn't the only way to spread the word. From late 1993 the Internet was the media's favourite buzzword and as the company that pioneered low-cost access, Demon Internet was mentioned in just about every article - and there were hundreds - that talked about the Information Superhighway.

Style magazines even proclaimed that a demon.co.uk email address was the cool thing to own, and fuelled by immense public and media interest, the number of subscribers began to grow exponentially, with rates of up to 25% per month.

New computers, a faster link across the Atlantic and more PoPs in Cambridge, Reading and Edinburgh helped maintain the expansion, but still the demand for Internet access was almost too much to keep up with. Even with the growing competition, Demon Internet's reputation as the first provider helped make sure it was also the first choice for the people wishing to get online.

The move to become an independent Internet provider allowed Demon to offer more services, including leased lines for businesses who wanted to connect - especially useful for small companies. It also attracted interest from some larger companies, among them the Daily Telegraph.

Late in 1994, the Telegraph became Britain's first daily newspaper to publish an electronic edition, using technology specially developed by Demon Internet, firmly establishing the company as one of the leading experts in publishing on the World Wide Web.

Virtually yours

The Electronic Telegraph wasn't the only innovation in 1994. Early in the year, work had begun on a scheme that was set to revolutionise the service for thousands of people, making Internet access within a local call reality for a massive proportion of the population.

By teaming up with Energis - the phone company run by the electricity companies - Demon created the Virtual PoP (VPoP) scheme. It went live in December, and now provides local rate access from over 300 towns and cities around the UK, with hundreds of phone lines. With the VPoPs, there's no need to install expensive computers around the country, or dedicated links back to the Internet. A single local call connects you direct to Demon Internet's Finchley operations centre - and you don't have to dial different numbers to find a free modem; if there's a line free, it's yours, no matter where you're calling from, or which VPoP number you dial.

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